The Non-Ordinary – Part IX: Connecting With Creativity – Story

Creating Story

Creativity is a significant part of the non-ordinary. It’s born into the world through imagination. Early in our lives imagination has free reign and plays a significant role in our development. Childhood is a time when we aren’t as susceptible to the judgments of others, a time when we are less inhibited. Through imagination we can wander outside of the norms, outside of what may be acceptable in the adult world, into the world of imaginary friends and fairytale play.

As adults we can still venture into the realm of the creative imagination. Here we find a hidden treasure allowing us to tap into boundless potential resources of unconventional ideas, access to fresh ways of perceiving and we may even stumble upon innovative problem solving on issues that are hidden from our own consciousness.

A few years ago, prior to facilitating a workshop on mask-making with my sister, I was surprised by an unexpected insight. One of the group activities we were preparing to use was writing a fairytale about ourselves in response to the work we were focusing on for that segment.

My sister and I did a practice run, to see how it fit. The fairytale I wrote was about an orphan girl who was on a journey through the desert in search of a community she could call her own. She was visited in the dark of night by an unannounced sojourner, an old wise woman. The grey haired crone imparted an inner light into the orphan’s soul.

What I discovered through writing this fairytale was that there are parts of me feeling orphaned, a deep longing for acceptance and that it was essential that I come to value the essence of who I am regardless of whether or not a group of people bring the validation I long for.

Perhaps I could have come to this understanding through a simple intellectual process. But I believe gaining insight through the creative process makes a deposit beyond the intellect, down into the soul, where transformation takes place.

There is nothing particularly profound about the images in this story. They are familiar. The specifics of how these images were used and fashioned into a story were unique to me, indicating the presence of meaningful symbols that had been stirring just beneath the surface.

The fairytale telling brought things into conscious view and allowed me to process the life-long struggle to be accepted, haunting self-doubt and the need to have a sense of value in and of myself whether I’m accepted by anybody else or not. Finding health in these areas is foundational for becoming a whole person, whole-making is the primary work of being human.

“We are language-making creatures in the same way that spiders are web-making creatures.”

Laura-Grey Street

The Ecopoetry Anthology Edited by Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Grey Street

What might be stirring just beneath the surface for you?

Writing Prompt for the Week: A Fairytale of My Own